Public networks, such as the Internet, allow users to access resources of interconnected computers, and also offer the possibility of access to the resources of smaller, private networks (intranets). Intranets typically include systems that route data traffic from the Internet to and from the network resources of the intranet. The data traffic carried on a network 10 (as shown in FIG. 1) may include several different types of data services (classes of service), for example the data traffic may include voice data (to implement Voice-Over-IP (VOIP)), video data (to implement streaming video), and encrypted data.
Each class of data service is characterized by having different requirements for bandwidth and response times to provide response times considered adequate to a user of network 10. Also, many classes of service are implemented by packetizing the data, where the resulting data packets are transmitted over the network, between two devices. A network processor (a router) may be used to regulate the flow of packet traffic, including VOIP packets, streaming video packets, and encrypted packets on the network. For example, a router may be used to redirect packet traffic in order to reduce congestion on the network or to re-prioritize the data packets.